"De-generationized"
So here goes the story. The other day me and a friend of mine gave my cosusin's son,hardly 8 years old,a car ride from the airport and we started "talking". Keeping in view he is just a 3rd grader , we wanted to keep the conversation simple. I am only providing snipets of it keeping in mind the fragile ego's reading this post.
Friend: Who's your favorite hero
Kid: Shahrukh Khan.
Friend: Where were you when Tsunami happened.
Kid: Home.
I interrupted
Me: Do you know what Tsunami is.
Kid: Tsunami is formed when earth plates below the sea has a displacement due to a earth quake and the resulting pressure pushes the water....
Me (interrupting him,from obvious abashment ): What did you say you fav hero was ?
Kid: Did you know that humans use only 10-15% of their brain
Me: huh?
Friend (who tried to be a smart ass): I use 20%
Kid: No way. Humans can only use up to 16% of their brain else they become psychos.
Me and my friend were beyond speechless. Noticing this,he tried to interrupt our silence.
Kid: Ask me something in Algebra.
Me(Not willing to accept his smartness): Okie. What's 4+4
Kid: Heeeey. Are you guys making fun of me. That's not Algebra.
and he carried on how one should care and encourage a loosing team in any sport than the winning, showing his sensitiveness.
That's when we realized what struck us. We have been "de-generationized". This is not the first time I have heard about American born Indian Kids having exceptional memories and with remarkable prudence, but this is the first time I have come across one of such kind. I have my friend telling me how her sister's daughter is sharp, brainy and many stories from others, makes me wonder if the combination of Indian genes and the American habitat (especially the graded nourishing food, water) has anything to do with it. So are we seeing the beginning of a new superior race,a smart and compassonate. Hmmm…hey just my 2 cents.
As far as me going DG(read as de-generationized), I guess a marathon of some pointless and senseless bollywood movies over the weekend should fix it.
by gvenum @ 5:27 PM
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#by
Anirudh, at January 25, 2005 9:41 PM
:). This reminds of my cousin's daughter in California who is all of 10 years old and has beat me in every chess game I have played with her (in less than 20 moves I have to add). Yes absolutely I shudder to think what this generation will do when they grow older .. -
#by
, at January 26, 2005 9:07 PM
Though everything else supports your theory of the new kids being more intelligent and prudent, one statement by the kid implies otherwise - favourite actor Shahrukh Khan?? :)
Seriously, yes, the new age kids are exceptionally brilliant. But to hope that it results in a more compassionate world is, I think, wishful thinking. Our parents are smarter than their parents and we are smarter than ours, but is the world any better/safer than before? Getting smarter is natural according to the theory of evolution.
-TII -
#by Akruti, at January 28, 2005 8:49 AM
Ha,thankfully now i can put in a comment:) but in all this trying to reach for commenting i forgot what to comment abt,hold,letm e read all of it again:)
Sigh! ! ! ! wish i never read this post,it gives me a complex,i still cannot understand algebra:( and i never knew abt this humanbrain also,so i must be using less than 10% minimum also:(((( -
#by Pallavi, at February 02, 2005 3:11 AM
hahahah happens to me sometimes... when my friends kid knows more names of car brands .. good lord !! -
#by Anbu, at February 03, 2005 1:44 AM
Amazing man...Kids are getting smarter in india too...I saw a kid discussing the various Cell operator rates in a cafe...i was surprised.. -
#by Paddy, at February 04, 2005 8:18 PM
So True! I have these chats with my cousin's daughter aged 10 or so, that makes feel that I have to be thinking on my feet to make any sense to her. Her outlook, questions and attitude keep puzzling me as to the concept of learning acceleration these days.Its almost like having a good converstaion with a well learned adult...Probably evolution dictates that! -
#by Unknown, at February 07, 2005 5:47 AM
hey.. may be we should consider having this word in the dictionary too.. cos each one of us(the grown-ups, I mean) r feeling the same way.. -
#by gvenum, at February 08, 2005 12:06 AM
(Anirudh) Thanks for the comments.
(TII) Picking Shahrukh Khan actually made me happy from the fact that he is not a phsycho yet:).
(Neels)well you can understand my algebra quotient form the question I asked. That should make you comfortable.
(Pallavi)Very true. One of my cousin's kid can talk about all the teams in NBA, its players , their point averages and he is hardly 8.
(Anbu)Thank god only rates. If he had used terms like GSM, CDMA...my plans of moving back to India as telecom engineer are down the drain.
(Paddy) This is exactly what happenned to me with this kid. It forced me to treat him as an adult. I think the evolution took a break during 80's and early 90's:)
(Prasad) I love you man ..you are picking my language:), do you have any contacts up there...I got few more terms up my sleeve.
